The Art of Charity was born in the winter of 1994 at a small table in the back of a local pub in Chatham. It could have been all imagination and no follow-through except that the people at that table were eager, dedicated, and had a love for the town and its surroundings that had been honed by years of exposure. An event was planned that would reward the town with money for their children and a party for her residents. It had to be slightly off-season because all the volunteers worked at trades that revolved around the hectic summer months. And thus was foisted upon Chatham, in late June of 1994, the very first Art of Charity Auction and Raffle. By 2004, the AoC event in the center of town at beautiful Chase Park had become an entertainment staple, embraced by tourists, residents, merchants, and especially by the dozens of groups that were the happy recipients of the money raised.

As originally planned, we stopped after 11 years, returning the Gala once to celebrate Chatham’s 300th anniversary. We began mailing out request letters to the extensive base that we had developed and were rewarded year after year with a solid amount of incoming money. New requests from the schools were almost always met with a “yes”. We gave out more and more money and then, with Chatham-Harwich Regionalization, more money still.

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ABOUT AOC

The school system’s mascot is the iconic Great White Shark, viewed as a bane in most of the world, but as a boon here on the Lower Cape. With regionalization, what we like to say here at AoC is that we support these sharks, whether they swim in SchoolHouse or HawksNest Pond. But, these sharks are (happily) shredding our budget and turning our “yeses” into “maybes” … and so we need your help.

The Art of Charity is the only locally-based charitable organization that focuses on expanding the horizons of our children by supporting participation in artistic and cultural programs and activities initiated by our local teachers. We try to be a quick fix in the event of a budgetary short fall:

* funding to transport kids to educational events in the area;

* special teaching equipment to enhance the classroom experience;

* funding for scholarships;

* support for special non-school classes and equipment;

* funding for extra-curricular out-reach programs.

Art of Charity is there to help, and has been there, providing assistance and band-aids, for nearly 25 years and half a million dollars. From seashore to vernal pool, from playground to classroom, from sports field to field trip, we have always offered dream-fulfillment for all our children, in your name! Our goal from the get-go has been to make a great area greater, and now, with your help, we are striving to make this much-better school system the best!